


We are united because we lost you- hiatus

by mcustancm



Series: Sam's angst pile [7]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Birthday Party, Cutting, Depression, F/M, Fluff, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Iron Family, M/M, Nebula (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Protective Pepper Potts, Struggling, TW: cutting, The Author Regrets Nothing, They all need hugs, but it's happy too, tony stark's funeral, trust me - Freeform, tw: alcohol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:34:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21651562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcustancm/pseuds/mcustancm
Summary: Harley Keener, Peter Parker, Morgan Stark, and Nebula are suffering from the loss of their father figure. The four of them realize that the only way they can get better is if they are together. They suffer alone at first but then come together as the kids of Tony Stark. Oh and Pepper is the best mom ever.
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Sam's angst pile [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692901
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to a new story! I don't what to put in the notes, but enjoy.

_ “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away. _ ” -Terry Pratchett

Tony Stark left the world, saving it. Something that would be remembered by everyone, for years. The people of the world celebrated for months on end, except for the ones who actually knew him. They were standing by a lake watching his old arc reactor floating down the stream. To Harley, it was kinda soothing. Watching the heart of his favorite guy on the planet float away. To Peter, it was aggravating. He knew he could’ve saved Tony, but he failed… all his mentor wanted for him was to be better. Yet, here he was standing next to his aunt, regretting everything. 

Pepper invited everyone inside afterwards for a nosh. Harley sat alone on a rocking chair outside, holding a cup of some vodka he poured while no adults, Pepper especially, were watching him. He sighed and took a sip. That’s where his problem started, right there on that damn fucking porch after Tony Stark’s funeral. 

A little girl came outside and looked at him. He put the drink down to the side and waved at her. 

“Hi! I’m Morgan.” She beamed. Her smiled reminded him of his sister, Abbie. Morgan has this little devilish light in her eyes, he immediately knew who she belonged to. 

“Hey, I’m Harley.” He waved at her. 

“Are you’re Tony’s daughter?” he asked a little softer, just to make sure she wouldn’t start crying. But, to his surprise, she did a little twirl and smiled brighter. 

“He is my daddy!” She smiled, but the smiled to turned to a frown,

“But mommy says his up there.” She points to the clouds and waves. Harley sighed and looked down at the wooden floor. 

“I knew your dad.” Harley finally says. The girl’s frown changed again to a light smile. “You did?” Morgan asks. She sits on the porch and folds her legs. “Tell me a story about it.” She begs. Harley scoffs and leans back in his chair as he thinks of a good one to tell her. 

“Well… Miss Morgan, one time your father came to my town down in Tennessee. Do you know where Tennessee is?” He asks. Morgan shakes her head. He takes out his phone and pulls up a picture of the map of America. He points to Tennessee and smiles. “That’s where I’m from.” Morgan smiles and nods excitedly.

“Anyway, I found him in my garage, and this was before I met him officially… I think I was 11, anyway, he was building something. My mother wasn’t home and my sister was asleep, so I went down to my garage to build something. But I found your dad in there.” he says and points to her. She giggles and nods. 

“Anyhow, he started to talk but I was kinds like ‘who are you and what are you doing in my garage?’ so, I had this thing in my hands. I could shoot potatoes out of it, it was pretty cool.” He shrugs. 

“I was thinking of throwing a potato at your dad but I shot one at a glass cup in the corner of the room.” Morgan laughed and smiled. 

“What’s your name again?” Morgan asks tilting her head. 

“Harley.” He smiled. Morgan gasped and stood up. 

“You’re Harley?” She sais jumping around. Harley nodded.

“My dad told me about you! And guess what.” She says getting closer to Harley. Harley laughed and said, 

“What’s that?”

“My middle name is Harley.” She smiled and started to do a little dance. Harley’s face dropped and his heart skipped a beat, then it started beating faster and faster. 

“Harley, are you okay?” Morgan says. 

Harley looks up to her. 

“You’re parents named you… after me?” Morgan shrugged. 

“Morgan, where’s your mom at?” Harley asks. 

“Inside! I can take you to her.” She says beaming that childish smile. “Thanks.”

“Pepper, can I speak to you?” Harley asks. She’s talking to Rhodey and Steve. “Sure, Harley.” She smiled and put her drink down to the side and followed him to the corner of the room. Harley sighed and began to speak.

“I was talking to Morgan, she’s beautiful by the way.” He started. Pepper smiled and wiped a tear from her eye. 

“Thank you, Harley.” Harley smiles lightly and lets a few built-up tears drop. 

“You named her after me… her middle name, why?” 

Pepper took a shaky breath and started to explain. “Tony was one hundred percent convinced she wasn’t going to get you or Peter back-”

“Who’s Peter?”

“Oh… I’m sure you’ll meet him” Pepper smiles. “But, when Morgan was born, Tony had absolutely nothing to remember you by, and he didn’t want to forget the kid who saved his life.” She smiled as she heard Harley let out a soft chuckle. “So we decided to name Morgan after you, then Tony figured out how to save everyone.” She said nodding her head recalling the night he told her “I figured it out”.

“I’m honored.” Harley smiled, “Thanks, Pepper… for inviting me to this.”

“Tony would’ve wanted you here,” Pepper says. Morgan runs up to them and begs Harley to pick her up. He does and Morgan nuzzles her head into Harley’s neck. 

“Hey, Harley… how’s your mother doing?” Pepper asks. Harley gulps at the statement. Truth is, his mother died the same day Harley did. She was driving Harley home from baseball practice when the snap occurred, Harley disintegrated but she got in a bad accident and passed away hours later.

“she passed away, A while ago, Abbie should’ve told you guys” he sighs. Pepper nods.

“We spoke to Abbie a few times, how old is she now?” Pepper says, Harley flinches at the thought of Abbie being 15 and a half now.

“Almost 16.” Harley looks down at the ground. He puts down Morgan and she skips away. Harley frowns. “I remember when she was her age… and it’s like… a whole five years was taken away from me. I missed my sister growing up, and It sucks Pepper… this whole thing just sucks.” He started to cry. He could feel Pepper pull him into a hug and start to cry along with him. 

“I know it does…” She whispers. 

“I want him back.”

“We all do, trust me.”

+_.-._+

All Peter Parker knew was death. First his parents, then his uncle, and now Tony Stark. Tony wasn’t just “Mr. Stark” to Peter, he was also a guide, a protector, and a teacher. But most importantly, he was his light in a dark time. 

Tony Stark came to Peter while he was in a dark time, he recently got these powers that he really didn’t know what the hell to do with. His uncle died and his aunt was suffering, and all he could do was sit and watch. Yet, he became the one and only Spider-Man (at least he thought). That’s when Tony found him. He visited him in his small apartment in Queens, New York. He took him to Germany and provided him with a new suit to fight Captain America and his team. 

Even back in New York, Tony made sure the kid wasn’t getting himself killed. He told him “I wanted you to be better”. That few words stuck with Peter for the rest of his life.

Tony told him “And you if you die? That’s on me,”. But Peter died, right in front of him. 

_ “I’m sorry”.  _ And he was gone, for five years. But Peter came back. Then Tony died. 

_ “I’m sorry, Tony.”  _

And now he’s at the funeral reception talking to a young girl who said her name was Morgan Harley Stark. 

“My dad talked about you, a lot,” Morgan says to him. 

“What did he say?” Peter asks. He kept a large smile on his face for her. He didn’t want her to know that he was suffering from the loss of her father. 

“He said that you helped him a lot and built cool things, and he said that you’re Spider-Man” She whispered the last part so no one else could hear, even though everyone there knew, but she didn’t know that. 

“I am Spider-Man.” He smiles and whispers back. “Your dad helped me with my suits.”. Morgan’s smiled expanded when he said that he was Spider-Man. 

“My dad said that you and Harley were gonna be my big brothers…” She frowns “But you couldn’t cause you were gone.”

“I’m sorry, Morgan.” Peter sighed.    
“It’s okay…”

“Hey Morgan, who is Harley?”

“I’ll take you to him if you want!” She jumps up excitedly. 

“Thanks.” He stands up and Morgan holds his hand. 

Harley was outside again, sipping another drink cause someone threw his old one away. 

“Harley! Harley! I have someone for you.” Morgan said to him as she jumped into his lap. He put the drink to the side and adjusted her to sit comfortably on his lap. 

“Who would that be, Miss Morgan?” then he looked up to see a brown-haired boy who looked to be around his age, staring at him. 

“His name is Peter.” Morgan smiled.

“H-hi, I’m Peter, but you already know that cause just told you.” Peter chuckles nervously. 

“It’s alright, I’m Harley Keener.” 

“I told him that,” Morgan whispered into Harley’s ear.

“Sorry, Miss Morgan,” Harley says laughing a little. 

“It’s okay.” She smiled brightly. The door swung open and a blue person came out. 

“Hello,” She smiled politely. The three of them waved to her as she sat down on the chair across from Harley. “I’m Nebula.” She introduces herself.

“I’m Morgan, that’s Peter, and this is Harley,” Morgan says fondly. “My dad told me about you too!” She smiles and jumps off Harley’s lap. “He said that you helped him out in space, thank you!” She hugs Nebula. Nebula nervously hugs her back and smiles when Morgan breaks the hug. 

“Why are you blue?” Morgan asks tilting her head.

“Morgan, that’s not a polite thing to say-” Harley tries to explain. Nebula waves it off and answers her question. 

“I was born this way, I’m not from here.” Nebula tells her. 

“Oooooh!” She giggles and nods. The door opens again and all four heads turn to see Pepper coming outside. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need Morgan.” Morgan runs into her mother’s arms and they go back inside Harley waves goodbye to her. 

Harley sighs and picks up his drink to take a sip. “So, now that the little ears are gone, how did y’all meet the tin can man?” He says. Nebula scoffs with a smile and Peter giggles lightly. 

“He basically kidnaped me and took me to Germany, and wouldn’t leave me alone since” Peter shrugs his shoulders and laughs a little. The other two nod and smile. 

“We fought my adoptive father together in space then lived in a space ship together for almost a month.” Nebula explains. 

“How’d you meet him, Harley?” Peter asks. 

“Uh, he broke into my garage and I almost shot him with a potato gun.” He says. “Weirdest day of my life, then again I was only 11.” The other two laughed. 

“That’s funny.” Nebula smiles. 

“So, siblings?” Harley says, starting a new subject. 

“I had a sister, my adoptive father threw her off a cliff. We always fought but we were finally getting along.” Nebula sighs. 

“Sorry…” Harley and Peter both say.

“My parents died when I was 3, so no,” Peter says.

“Damn, sorry,” Harley says. 

“It’s alright, I don’t remember them, although I wish I could.”

“I know how you feel.” Harley nods. “My father left when I was 6… after sister was born.”

“My dad hated me…” Nebula shares. 

“I guess it’s good Tony found us all.” Harley smiles a little and takes a sip of his drink.

The three of them spoke for a while until the guest started leaving. Pepper came outside to talk to the three of them, May followed her and wrapped her arms around Peter and gave him a hug.

“I know you three had a special connection with Tony, so I’m inviting you three to stay here with Morgan and me for as long as you want,” She offers. 

“I need to be with Aunt May, but thank you, Pepper.” Peter politely declines. 

“I’ll stay,” Nebula says. “Thank you, Pepper” Pepper nods and smiles, she looks at Harley. 

“I want to, I really do… Tennessee sucks, I can’t who I want, but Abbie likes it there,” He sighs. “Let me call her.” Harley leaves the porch to call his sister, Peter watches him go then turns to Pepper. 

“What does he mean when he said he can’t be himself?” He asks. 

“All that Tony told me was he tried to come out when he was 15, but it backfired and everyone told him that God would fix him.” Pepper sighs and shakes her head. “I’m not going into detail about it, you should ask him, but if he doesn’t wanna talk, don’t push him” 

“Yeah, of course.” Peter nods. 

Harley comes back and nods. “She doesn’t mind living here”

“Fantastic.” Pepper smiles. 

“Thank you, Pepper, for inviting us, but we should really get going,” May tells her. Peter nods and gets up out of his seat. Harley watches them go and sighs. 

“My flight leaves in four hours, I gotta get going. I’ll be back in a week.” Harley says “I do need a cab… uh.” He says as he chuckles softly. 

“I’ll call you one.” Pepper nods and goes back inside to find her phone. Harley finishes the rest of his drink. Nebula shakes her head. 

“Don’t kill yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve had at least 4 drinks since I came out here, just be safe.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He said. Nebula sighs and leans back in her chair. 

+_.-._+

On the plane ride back home, Harley used his ID to convince the flight attendants that he was over 21. His ID said he was born in 2001, and he was! That wasn’t a lie, He just wasn't 21, he was 17. He drank the entire way back to Tennessee. He wobbled his way to his car from where it was parked in the airport parking lot. He didn’t drive for a few hours. He just sat there drinking a warm bottle of water that he been in his car for a week. He was trying to sober up. He really didn’t trust himself when he was drunk, bad things always happened. 

When he was sober enough, he texted Abbie to tell her that he was on the way from the airport. 

+_.-._+

Peter was silent on the way back to the apartment. He didn’t even know how to start a conversation even if he wanted to talk. He as still suffering.

He quickly walked to his bedroom and threw himself on his bed. He stayed there, with a knife on his nightstand for when he couldn’t take the voices yelling at him in his head any longer. One early Wednesday morning, he sat up and dragged the knife in a neat line across his skin on his lower arm until it bled. He did it because he felt like he needed to be punished for letting Tony die when he could’ve done something. He didn’t cut too deep at first because he didn’t want to scare May. Because of his powers, his cuts healed quickly. 

He wore his midtown hoodie (even though school was out) on the rare occasion he left his bedroom that week. And when he was outside of his room, he never left the apartment. Until he got the text from Pepper that Harley was back in town. He didn’t know why that text made him get up and out of bed so eagerly. But he threw on some clean clothes and convinced May to take him over to the Stark cottage. He said hello to Harley, Morgan, Pepper and Nebula. He ended up staying the night 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Peter have a long conversation and Morgan has a birthday party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! hope you are enjoying the story so far. Leave comments down below <3

Peter decided to stay in the spare room in the cottage for a few weeks until school starts. He didn’t being alone when May is gone at work. He enjoyed the company of other people. And he really wanted to ask Harley about Tennessee. 

He never rolled his sleeves up once, he didn’t want anyone to worry about him, he was coping in his own way, He didn’t need other people to care, they just needed to be around. He noticed that Harley always had a cup of something no matter where he went. But Peter didn’t intrude, that wasn’t his place. If it was anyone, it would be Tony’s… but Tony wasn’t here anymore.

That's the problem, Tony wasn’t here anymore. The reason the four of them met was that Tony wasn’t here. Sure, Tony would’ve probably introduced them at one point, but he died too soon.

+_.-._+

  
  


Morgan was struggling with the fact that her dad, her favorite person in the world, wasn’t coming home. She’d wake up every night screaming and crying. One of the other four people in the house would always wake up and come in to check on her. And typically it would be Nebula since she was sleeping in the next room over. This particular night was difficult for Morgan since it was her 6th birthday. Figures, a week after her dad dies, it’s her birthday. 

“Morgan, it’s okay… shh.” Nebula says in the softest possible way she can. Morgan kept crying and sniffling. Nebula sighed and sat on the bed with her. Morgan crawled into Nebula’s lap and Nebula wrapped her arms around the tiny girl’s torso. 

“I miss my daddy.” She cries. 

“I miss him too…” Nebula sighs. She helps Morgan fall back asleep by rubbing her back in soft circles. At this moment, Nebula knew she wanted to make sure that Morgan had the best life people. Nebula never felt the love from anyone. But, holding this little girl in her arms made her feel loved.

Nebula started to cry softly, she tried to stop crying, but it was too difficult for her. She swore to herself that she would protect Morgan from whatever she could.

Morgan’s door open slowly, but Nebula didn’t even notice, nor did she notice Pepper’s head peeking through. Pepper smiles slightly at the sight she was seeing: Nebula was laying Morgan back down in her bed, then she wiped her eyes and smiled. Nebula eyed the door and opened it fully. 

“Sorry for spying… I just couldn’t sleep and I went to check on Morgan but then I saw you acting a big sister to her and helping her… thank you, Nebula.” Pepper whispers. Nebula smiles and takes another look at Morgan before nodding and leaving the room. 

+_.-._+

In the morning, Harley woke up extremely early. It’s not 100% on purpose, but there is a tiny reason why. 

He got out of bed almost immediately and walked over to the liquor cabinet that he could only assume was Tony’s. He browsed the alcohol for a moment before picking one and taking a few swigs from it. 

“Sorry, Tony,” He said before putting the bottle back. Whatever it was that he drank, it hit fast, and strong. Harley fell to the floor but remained conscious, he laid there for a while, staring up at the ceiling. 

“How the hell did I get here?” He asked the empty room, at least he thought it was empty. 

“That's exactly what I was thinking…” A voice said. Now, he knew he recognized this voice, but he was too fucking knocked out to figure out who it was. 

“Who the fuck spoke…” He says sitting up and rubbing his eyes. A figure walked closer to him, he could tell this was a man, and the only other man in this house was Peter. “Peter, why are you up so early?”

“I could ask you the same question, Harls,” Peter said, crouching down to be face to face with Harley. “But I already know the answer…” Peter continued. “I noticed you were drinking at the funeral, Keener.” 

“That’s none of your business,” Harley said, staring him dead in the eye. “None… of your fucking business.” He repeated. “Besides, don’t think I haven’t noticed anything suspicious about you.” 

“Yeah? What’s that?” Peter said. He was curious if Harley was talking about what Peter thought he was talking about. 

“You always wear that fucking jacket… a-and you are in your room all the time. If that isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is, and don’t make excuses of ‘Spider-Man’ business” Peter was a little taken back by that one. 

“You… You know about that?” He said shakily. He sat down on the floor finally because crouching for so long was getting uncomfortable. 

“It’s obvious.” Harley sighed and began to explain, “You and I were the only teens there, besides Hawkeye’s children… a-at the funeral I mean, I’m not Spider-Man, and everyone knows that Ironman and Spider-Man were close. So it had to be you.” Harley shrugged his shoulders. “But back on the topic of that jacket, why do you always wear it?”

“Why do you always drink?”

“Answer me, first.”

“You really wanna know?” Peter says, defensively. 

“Yeah… kinda!” Harley said. The thing is, however, he really didn’t think he was stable enough right now to know the truth, but he and his stubborn ways really wanted to know. “...I do.” He said. Peter sighed and rolled up one of his sleeves slowly. There were white scars up and down his arms, in neat lines. Peter looked away from his arms as Harley stared at the cuts. 

“You can’t do that… Peter you- That’s not good.” Harley said, finally making eye contact with him again. 

“No shit, Keener…” Peter sighed. “But I can’t stop, it makes the voices go away… the voices that are oh so painful to hear. They yell at me, Harley… they tell me it’s my fault that he’s gone. That it’s my fault Morgan won’t have a father growing up. It’s my fault.” He starts to cry softly. Harley shakes his head and pulls him into a hug. 

“It isn’t your fault… he decided to do it… that was on him.” 

“But if I did it-”

“Don’t fucking say it,” Harley said sternly. “I know what you’re going to say, I know exactly how you feel.”

“How do I feel, Harley?” Peter asks sarcastically while breaking their hug.

“You feel like no one would care if you died, if you jumped off a cliff and died. But you’re so wrong.” Harley sighed and shook his head. “In Rose Hill, before the snap happened, I came out to my mother… she couldn’t take having a faggot for a son…” Peter took in a sharp breath at the word, he’d known the word all too well aswell. “She never wanted to be in the same room as me anymore, I was banned from the church in our town because she told the pastor. The only person who still cared about me was Abbie… thank god she wasn’t in the car with me and my mother when the snap happened.” He took a shaky breath. “People would care if you died, I know Abbie would care if I did, and even if she was the only one so be it. But I’m sure your aunt would care…” Harley said. 

“I guess you’re right…”

“I’m always right… I’m a Keener.” He jokes.

“I’m sorry about your mom, by the way…”

“It’s okay, she was an alcoholic who didn’t give one shit about me.” He shrugs. Peter flinched at the word alcoholic.

“You’re gonna be an alcoholic if you don’t stop,” Peter said sincerely. 

“You’re gonna need to stop cutting before I stop any of my habits.”

“It’s not that easy, Harley.” Harley rolls his eyes. 

“It’s not that easy to stop drinking either… but we gotta do it together, otherwise, we will both relapse and our family members will never forgive us.”

“I’m sure they would,” Peter says softly.

“Abbie wouldn’t… she never forgave our mother.”

“Your mother was also a terrible person to you, maybe Abbie didn’t forgive her for that.” Peter smiled lightly. Harley shrugs and shakes off the thought of his mother. 

“It doesn’t matter, all the matters is getting better… both of us.” Harley said. 

“It’s gonna take time, Harls…” Peter frowns. “And it’s not like I’ve been doing it forever… only a week now… but my scars heal quick, so… I do it every day”

“That’s not good”

“That’s why we’re gonna stop…” Peter said slowly. 

“Peter, Harley?” Nebula was looking at them softly. 

“Nebula, Are you okay?” Harley asks standing up, Peter standing up also, wiping his hands on his pajama pants and pulling his sleeves down quicky. Nebula noticed this but she didn’t mention it. 

“I’m fine, but I’m worried about Morgan, it’s her birthday today.” She said with a hint of concern in her voice. 

“Oh, shit, you’re right.” Harley sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “What are we gonna do?”

“We have to make it special since Tony isn’t here.” Peter sighed. 

“Yeah..” Harley took a deep breath. “I’m not the only one who feels the need to protect this young child, am I8?” Harley asks them, they both shake their heads. Harley nods and sighs. “What are we gonna do?”

“This fucking sucks…” Peter says. Both of them tilted their heads and his words. 

“What do you mean?” Harley asks. 

“This sucks… he’s gone a-and his 6-year-old daughter is suffering. Along with his three pseudo children.” He starts to cry. Harley and Nebula frown and give him a hug. 

Nebula hasn’t ever been the best with feelings. She’s always hated them. No one showed her love, she left to herself for years. Until moments after half the universe vanished. Tony showed her compassion and kindness in which she returned the favor. It was different, which she guesses why she feels such a strong connection to Morgan. 

“Whatever we do, it has to be special…” Nebula says breaking the three-way hug.

“I have an idea.” A fourth voice says. The three of them turn to face Abbie, “If you guys want help.” She shrugs. The three of then nod.

Soon they are sitting in Pepper’s living room discussing what to do for Morgan’s birthday at 8 in the morning. They decide that it should have a theme, the end up picking Yellow after Nebula tells them that Morgan told her that yellow was her favorite color. 

The next thing they knew, they are ordering 20 sunflowers (with Pepper’s permission of course) and setting up a scavenger hunt for her, starting at her bed. Throughout the day, they managed to keep a smile on her face. Morgan was the happiest she’s been since the funeral. And so was everyone else. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley happens to anger Peter and Abbie in less than 24 hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back.. 
> 
> also, if you were wondering why I include Abbie in everything I write, it's because me and my friends think I should play her in future Marvel films. (cause I'm an actress lol). So I love the idea of her so much.
> 
> enjoy!

“Guys… can I speak to you?” Pepper asks the four of them after the party when Morgan passed out on the couch. 

“What's up?” Harley asks, leaning on the kitchen counter. 

“Thank you so much for helping out with Morgan today, Tony would’ve been so proud of you guys.” She smiles. Pepper noticed the happy expression on Abbie’s face sink so she sighed and said: “Even you, Abbie.” Abbie smiled and nodded. 

“It’s wasn’t that big of a deal for us, Pepper” Peter smiled, Pepper kissed his head. 

“Thank you anyways.” She says softly to him

+_.-._+

“What are you holding,” Peter says as he walks into the kitchen late at night. He sees Harley sitting against the refrigerator on the floor. 

“A bottle… are you fucking blind?” Harley says shaking it then taking a sip out of it. Peter reaches to take it from him but Harley doesn’t let him and takes another sip. “Fuck you, Parker.”

“Harley… you promised.” 

“I didn’t promise you anything… besides, why are you holding that knife?” Harley says, using his empty hand to gesture to the steak knife in Peter’s hand. Peter sighs and quickly hides the knife behind his back. “You thought I wouldn’t notice that, did you? Well surprise, surprise bitch. I did.” Harley stuck his tongue out at him.

“Your right, I’m sorry… I needed to.” He says rubbing at his freshly cut arm, but the sleeves were covering the cuts like they always did. 

“Just like I needed this drink” He stands up, shakily, and puts the bottle on the counter. He looks Peter directly in his eyes. “You don’t give two shits about me, Parker… all you care about is keeping Tony’s legacy alive. Well, Tony was a wealthy man, he doesn’t need our poor asses to keep his legacy for him. He never needed us. I don’t know what the old man told you, but I promise you this: He didn’t need us, and we don’t need him… and even if we did, he’s gone. And he isn’t coming back like we did.” He sighed and left the kitchen. Peter watched him go before saying something. 

“You’re wrong…”

“What?” Harley turns to look at him, “Okay, how am I wrong?” he crosses his arms and stares at Peter. 

“He did care about us, about me, and about you. You know he did or else he wouldn’t try to get us back.”

“That was never about us, his teammates were bugging him about it. It did it so they would get off his back”

“Why would he name Morgan after you?” Peter says, tears falling from his eyes. He couldn’t stand to see Harley this way. He was drunk and annoyed that Tony would leave him, annoyed that his mother never loved him, annoyed that she was gone. Peter could read all that from Harley’s eyes. 

“I don’t know.” He sighed and let his arms fall. 

“It’s cause he cared… so much about the four of us… five if you include your sister which I’m sure Tony did.” Peter smiled through his tears. He was on the verge of breaking down entirely, but he promised himself that he wouldn’t, for Harley. 

“Then why did he go?”

“To protect the five of us, he knew it was the only way to ensure our safety, Morgan’s safety, Nebula’s safety, and Abbie’s safety. Even when we were dead, he was constantly looking out for us. We’re a family now… even if our shared connection is gone.” Peter cried some more. Harley walked over to him slowly and gave him a hug. Peter cried into Harley’s chest for what felt like hours. Harley rubbed his back and constantly said he was sorry. Peter understood. 

“We need to stop… both of us.” Peter said, looking up to Harley. “I need to stop cutting and you need to stop drinking, officially.”

“I want to Peter, I really do… but it’s difficult and all I want is to continue drinking. It makes the pain stop.” Harley says. 

“I know how you feel…” Peter says, leaning his head against Harley’s chest. Harley rests his head on Peter’s head and sighed. “If anyone would want us to stop, it would be Tony…”

“But Tony isn’t here, Pete… that's the problem.” Harley said breaking the hug abruptly. “He isn’t fucking here…”

“But I am…” Peter looks at him with sorry eyes. “I can help… I wanna help. You can’t waste your days away drinking. It isn’t fair to you or your sister. I know I’m being hypocritical, but you know I’m right.” he takes Harley’s hands into his and smiles up at him. Harley looks down at the floor and sighs. 

“Make this deal with me Parker,”

“What’s the deal?” He asks, raising an eyebrow and separating their hands. 

“We both try and stop on our own, if we can’t we ask Pepper for help.”

“Deal… but we actually have to try.”

“Of course,” Harley nods. 

+_.-._+

Abbie walked into her brother’s room to see him laying down on his bed staring up at the ceiling. 

“What in god’s name are you doing Harls?” She says, staring at him. 

“Being depressed.” He replies, monotoned. 

“Well can you stop being depressed for at least an hour? Pepper is taking us out for ice cream.” She says, throwing herself on top of Harley. Harley groans and moves her. 

“You’re 15, you can’t do that shit anymore… it hurts” He says sitting up. Abbie nodded and frowns. 

“Sorry… it’s been a while.” She sighs and lets out a tear. As she does this, she realizes she hasn’t let her self truly cry in years. The last time she cried was on the day her mother and brother were taken from her. She starts to break down. Harley didn’t notice at first because her sobs were silent, but he heard her sniffle. 

“A-Abbie? Why are you crying?” Harley asks as he starts to rub her back. 

“I missed you so much while you were gone, I felt terrible. I didn’t understand why I got to live and both of you died.” She says hugging Harley. She cried into his chest and Harley kept on rubbing her back.

“I’m sorry that you went through all that hurt Abs.” He whispers. 

“What did I do to God to get punished like this?” She cries. Abbie still somehow believed in God, but Harley gave up years ago… when he was told that God hated gays because everyone told him that when he came out. 

“You did nothing, Abbie… you are the best thing to ever happen to me.” Harley told her. He broke the hug and looked at her directly in he eyes. 

“Your eyes look like Mama’s- Harley why are your eye’s foggy?” she says, her eyes are filling with anger. Harley looks down on the bed. 

“Abbie I-”

“You’ve been drinking.” She said as she got off the bed. “I fucking knew it Harls… what the hell? You- You bitch!” She yelled. Harley sighed and shook his head slowly. 

“Abbie I’m sorry.”

“You’re gonna leave me! Just like mom did!” She yelled at him. 

“No… I promise I’m not. I’m trying to get better.”

“You’ve only been back alive for a month and you manage to fuck it up! Harley, how do you expect me to believe that you’re trying?”

“Ask Peter…” he said. Abbie shook her head and left the room, slamming the door on the way out.

  
  


“Abbie, is everything alright?” Pepper asks her when she sees the source of the loud noise. 

“Harley has been drinkin’,” Abbie said to her. “He promised me when I was 9 that he wouldn’t do what Mama did. But he lied… Pepper he lied to me.” She starts to cry and Pepper hugs her. 

+_.-._+

“Let’s go Morgan.” Nebula says. “It’s dinner time.” Morgan shook her head and ran around the backyard again. 

“I’m not hungry.” She says when she runs back to Nebula. 

“You need to eat.” Morgan sighs and eventually gives in. Nebula holds her hand as they walk back into the house. 

+_.-._+

Harley didn’t join them for dinner. But he left his room while they were eating. He walked straight out the front door, a backpack in hand. 

“Harley!” Peter called out, he quickly got up from the table and ran after him. “Where the hell are you going?”

“Away. I’ve fucked up my relationship with Abbie,” Harley says as he continues to walk to his car. 

“Harley you can’t… you’re gonna end up breaking the deal.” Peter said. Harley stopped in his tracks and sighed “Don’t you want to get better? For Abbie?”\

“I do…” He turns to face him. How come he’s never realized how gorgeous Peter was… he was so handsome. Harley shook off the thought, however, and walked closer to Peter. 

“Then stay… please.” Peter begged. 


	4. Chapter 4

“Stay…” Peter begged him. Harley sighed and shook his head. 

“I can’t”

“Abbie would miss you… I would miss you.” Peter says quietly. 

“Would you?” Harley asks, stepping closer to Peter. Peter nods slowly.

“W-would you miss me?” Peter says in the quietest voice Harley has ever heard. Harley smiled lightly. God, he would miss how this boy who would try and protect him, he’d miss giving him hugs when times were tough. He’d only known him for three weeks but he’s sure that he would miss him. 

“I would.”

“Then please… stay.” Peter’s eyes were tearing up as he begged Harley to stay. “Please…”

“I can’t… I hurt everyone, I’m a mess, Pete.” Harley says. He begins to start walking to his car. Peter sobs as he grabs Harley’s arm. To Harley’s surprise, Peter is strong enough to pull him. “What-” But he was cut off by Peter’s lips on his. It took Harley a few minutes to realize what was going on. But soon, he had his hands on Peter’s waist. Peter broke their kiss and smiled. The smile was hazy like he wasn’t thinking straight. “Shit… sorry.” Peter said unwrapping his arm’s from Harley’s neck. 

“No… d-don’t be.” Harley sighed. “Why did…why?”

“I don’t know Harley, I just- I just. Sorry…” Peter says nervously. Harley could tell that he regretted kissing him. 

“Don’t be sorry,” Harley says. 

+_.-._+

“He just kissed Harley,” Abbie said from the window of the cottage. She was spying on them, only because she wanted to know if Harley was going to come back inside. Sure, she was mad at Harley but she loved him and wanted him to come back. He would try to get better, Abbie knew that. He always kept his promises… but he promised to not be like mom. 

“Peter… shy, insecure, Peter, just kissed Harley?” Nebula says going to the window. Abbie nodded and continued to watch them. “I was betting on Harley making the first move.”

“You bet on my brother?”

“No money was involved.” Nebula shrugs. 

“Okay, give them space, girls,” Pepper said. Both of them looked over at her, sighed, then went to go sit back down. 

“Why did Peter kiss Harley?” Morgan asks. Pepper glares at Abbie for a second before answering, Abbie giggled and took a sip of her soda.

“Peter probably likes Harley.”

“Does Harley like him back?” Morgan asks.

“From the looks of things, yeah,” Abbie said smirking. Morgan directed her attention to Abbie as if she was asking for more information. “Harley kissed him back. So that has to mean something. Doesn’t it?”

Pepper nodded and smiled. “I’m sure it does.”

+_.-._+

“We can’t do that again,” Peter says. 

“Why not?” Harley asked, trying not to let his sadness show through. “We did nothing wrong.”

“We aren’t mentally stable enough to mess around with each other…” Peter says. Harley knows he’s right. They can’t mess around. They need to get better. “We need to be sober… both of us. And we aren’t doing so well right.” He says rubbing his arm.

“Pete…”

“No, we can’t. It’s not good for us.” Peter says. “But either way, you have to stay… don’t- you can’t go back to Tennessee… Please”

“Now I know why you don’t want me to leave.”

“Don’t do that, Harls.” Peter sighed. “It’s- it’s because of Abbie, and keeping you sober. Not about what I want.”

“Bullshit, Parker… but I will stay,” Harley said. 

“Thank you.” Peter smiled. Harley nodded. He adjusted his backpack and went inside. 

  
  


+_.-._+

The four women were staring at the two boys as the came back inside. 

“None of you say anything,” Harley says it was mostly directed at Abbie because once she knew something, she wouldn’t stop talking about it. 

“Oh come on Harls, what was that?” Abbie says. Harley pulled her to the side of the dining room.

“Nothing… absolutely nothing.” He whispered. Abbie scoffed and nodded.

“Sure,” Abbie winked and started to help clean up from dinner.

“I’m serious, Abs,” Harley called out.

“So am I.”

+_.-._+

Harley’s phone started ringing late that night when he was by himself in his room. It was an unknown number, but he got a new phone when he moved in with Pepper, so he had a lot of unknown numbers calling his number that was actually people he knew. He answered the call with a “Hello?” and a fairly recognizable voice answered.

“Is this Harley Keener?”

“Yeah… who is this?” Harley responded. He sat up and leaned against the wall.

“Surprised that you don’t remember me… son.” The voice said. 

“N-No… how did you get my number! Leave me alone!” Harley yelled into the phone. Well, he didn’t really yell because Morgan finally got to sleep. But he was shocked. His dad hasn’t contacted him since he left. He bet his dad didn’t even care to know if his own children survived the snap.

“Woah, hey. Harley calm down.” His dad said. “I spoke to Abbie after my… wife vanished.” Harley shuddered at the thought of his dad marrying someone else. He left for another woman and that enraged Harley. He was fucking pissed.

“You left us for another woman?” Harley managed to choke out.

“Not initially. But Harley; Abbie said that you were gone and it hurt me. I don’t know how to describe it but it hurt to hear that you weren’t here.”

“It’s called parental instinct. No wonder you wouldn’t know.” Harley shot back. He could hear his father sigh. 

“I didn’t call to fight, I need your help. My boss vanished and I've been in between jobs since then… it’s been really difficult. I need help…” 

“No! You can’t call me and asks for money. I’m not doing well myself with cash-”

“Don’t you live with Tony Stark’s wife?”

“How- how do you know that?”

“Abbie… we’ve been talking often. She gave me your number and told me where y’all have been staying.”

“Damn it,” Harley said. “I’m not giving you money, use those lottery winnings you left us for.” Harley aggressively hangs up. Harley sighs and lays back down. He tries to go back to sleep but the same few words keeping running around in his mind. _ “My… wife vanished”.  _ What a horrible phrase to tell your child, especially if it isn’t their own mother. 

“Fuck your wife,” Harley mumbled sheepishly.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan realizes tony isn't coming back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this was taking so long.

“Pepper made breakfast,” Nebula said to the four of them when she woke each of them up. Their reactions were remotely the same. They were excited for food but annoyed about getting up. Nebula learned to never wake up The Harley Keener again after he threw his pillow at her. Abbie did the same thing as well but it was with her plush monkey. 

She made a mental note to not wake up the Keener siblings ever again.

+_.-._+

“I need to speak with you.” Harley came up to Abbie after breakfast. She was in the kitchen with Peter cleaning up.

“Uh… can it wait?” She said.

“Not really.” He said. Abbie sighed and pulled him to the dining room. 

“What do you want?” Abbie said leaning against the wall. Harley sighed and began talking to her. 

“You never told me that Dad-” He shuddered at the word. “Uh- Adam reached out.”

“Why would I need to?” Abbie asks, shifting her weight to the other side. 

“Because I’m your brother and you used to tell me things all the time.”

“It isn’t a big deal, Harls,” Abbie said leaving the room while shaking her head.

“He called me yesterday and asked for money,” Harley said. Abbie stopped in her tracks. 

“What did you say?”

“He asked me for money…”

“He’s fucking rich!” Abbie yelled pulling out her phone. She dialed his number and started yelling at him. Harley kept trying to have Abbie be quieter but she was just too mad to listen. She went outside and yelled at him louder. 

“Fuck…” Harley mumbled as he was watching his sister yell at his father.

“What did you say?” Morgan asks. He didn't even notice that she came up next to him. 

“Where did you come from?”

“I don’t know!” Morgan says with her squeaky voice. Harley sighs and sits down on the ground. Morgan sits down in his lap. “Harley, I have a question.”

“What's up?”

“Why is mommy always sad… isn’t daddy coming back? You did.” She said. Harley didn’t know how to react. He knew Morgan was going to ask this question but he didn’t expect her to ask it to him. 

“Morgan… Tony isn’t coming back” He says in the most soothing voice ever. 

“What?” She says. She turns and faces Harley. Her eyes are tearing up and Harley feels terrible. “But- but- but you guys did.”Morgan is sobbing now, she leans against Harley’s chest. Harley rubbed Morgan’s back and tried not to cry, which ended up being a very difficult task. “Daddy isn’t ever coming back?” She asks softly.

“No…” he replies softly, “I’m sorry.” Harley lets a teardrop as he hears Morgan’s sobs become softer. 

“Daddy didn’t love me…” Morgan sobs. Harley shakes his head quickly. “Yes he did, he did very much,” Harley said wiping her tears.

“How do you know?”

“I know these things… I’m smart like that.” He forces a smile, hoping the 6-year-old would return the favor, but she didn’t. She just leaned back into Harley's chest and sobbed. 

+_.-._+

Harley didn’t notice when Nebula entered the room but he did notice when she sat down. Harley smiled at her and Nebula nodded and sighed “Is she asleep?”

“I think… she’s been quiet for a little. But she was crying and I didn’t know what to do… so I just kinda let her… y’ know... Lay here.” Harley finished with a sigh. 

“Why was she crying?”

“Tony…”

“Oh..” Nebula said softer.

“Yeah… I think it’s been most difficult on her and that just ends up hurting the rest of us.” Harley looks back down at the brown-haired girl sleeping soundly on his chest. 

“I think your right…” Nebula said “Unfortunately.” 

“I’d give anything to bring him back…” Harley admits.

“All of us would… but we can’t. It would destroy the timeline.” Nebula frowned. Harley huffed and nodded “I guess that makes sense. But it would make her smile…” Nebula nods and sighs. And then she got an idea. 

“Doesn’t Tony have a bunch of old recordings of him testing his suits?” She asks Harley. Harley shrugs “I’d assume so, but I wouldn’t know where. Why?”

“We could edit them together and show Morgan… it would make her smile, don’t you think?”

“You’re a genius!” Harley said a little too loudly. Morgan squirmed in her sleep and pure panic flashed over Harley’s face, but Morgan didn’t wake up so all was good. “We’d need to ask Pepper where he put all those things when they moved into here,” Harley said, Nebula nodded as Peter came into the room. 

“Peter we had an idea.” Nebula said. 

+_.-._+

Morgan woke up while Harley and Nebula were explain this idea to Peter and she asked how everyone got there. Harley laughed a little and kissed her head. “Go find your mom?” He asks. She nodded and ran off and a tiny smile. 

+_.-._+

  
  


Pepper was all in for the idea and helped them find Tony’s videotapes. They worked for a couple of hours putting the tapes together. A few tears were shared but it was happy tears. Tony was always so happy when he was testing his suits. Pepper could recognize every year by just the way he looked, and Harley recognized the Mark 42 suit he worked on with Tony.

“Whatever happened to that suit?” Harley asked Pepper as he finished up the editing on the video.

“He kinda exploded all of them,” Pepper said sincerely.

“Damn…” Harley chuckled, “Well the video is done.” Harley said looking back up from the computer. And he may or may not have noticed Peter staring at him as he worked through the reflection of the screen. But he wasn’t going to say anything about it. Because they were still healing. Truth is, He knew Peter hadn’t stopped cutting, he just really didn’t know how to help, but he kept his part of the promise. He hasn’t drunk since the day out by the truck… the day they kissed. And sure, Harley wants to kiss him again, but he can’t he promised. 

“We should call Morgan in here.” Nebula said. 

+_.-._+

Morgan was so happy while the video was playing. The happiest any of them have seen her in days. “Look! He’s building something!” Morgan says smiling at the screen “My daddy was so cool.” She said to Pepper.

“Yeah… yeah, he was.” She picked up Morgan and smiled. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments appreciated
> 
> Follow me on insta: @holland.simpkins


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